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The fourth Democratic debate is tonight. But we’re still in the beginning of the debate journey for the candidates hoping to win the Democratic primary nomination. And the qualifications to keep appearing in the debates are getting tougher each time. Here’s a look at what we know so far about the next debates and how many are left.
The Next Democratic Debate Is in November with Stricter Qualifications
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Tonight marks the fourth debate, hosted by CNN. The September debate was hosted by ABC and Univision. The DNC skipped August, but the July debates were hosted by CNN (yes, this is CNN’s second time to host Democratic debates) and the first debates in June were hosted by NBC. But what happens after tonight? The schedule will be packed for a while.
The next debate – the fifth round of debates – will take place next month on November 20, 2019 in Georgia and it will be hosted by MSNBC and The Washington Post. Because the requirements are getting stricter, it’s possible we’ll have fewer candidates on the debate stage again. From here on out, we won’t likely see another debate round where there are two nights of debates.
From now on, there will be one debate every month until April 2020. Yes, that means you’ll get to watch a debate in November 2019, December 2019, January 2020, February 2020, March 2020, and April 2020. That’s six more Democratic debates to go.
The requirements to qualify for the November debate are stricter than September and October. To qualify for tonight’s debate, the candidates needed at least 2 percent in four qualifying polls between June 28 and October 1, and donations from 130,000 unique donors.
To qualify for November, candidates must poll at 3 percent or higher four qualifying state or national polls, or they must poll at 5 percent or higher in two qualifying state polls, with a deadline of one week before the debate. They must also receive donations from 165,000 unique donors, which must include 600 unique donors in 20 states.
Qualifying polls are limited to the following institutions, according to Ballotpedia: Associated Press, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, Des Moines Register, Fox News, Monmouth University, NBC News, New York Times, National Public Radio, Quinnipiac University, University of New Hampshire, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, and Winthrop University.
According to NBC, the following candidates have qualified so far for November: Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Harris, Sanders, Steyer, Warren, and Yang.
It’s likely that the DNC will raise the qualifying threshold again in December if too many qualify for November.
How are these candidates doing in the polls so far? According to 538, the latest poll from HarrisX for Oct 11-14 showed Biden at 34%, Warren at 20%, and Sanders at 15%, then followed by Harris at 4%, Buttigieg at 4%, and Yang and O’Rourke at 3%.
The Quinnipiac University poll from October 11-13 showed Warren at 30%, Biden at 27%, Sanders at 11%, Buttigieg at 8%, and Harris at 4%.
In general, Biden is still leading most of the polls, but Warren is starting to poll ahead sometimes. Sanders has been third in the majority of the recent polls, except for once when Buttigieg took third in Iowa. But he’s leading the pack in individual donors to his campaign.
We don’t know who is hosting the future debates from December on, where they’ll take place, or who will be in them yet. But it’s going to be a packed and busy schedule for the remaining Democratic primary candidates. At this point in time, anyone could end up coming out on top.
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